How To Open Up Your Own Mixed Martial Arts Gym

If you are looking for your next entrepreneurial adventure why not try out the world of Mixed Martial Arts? It’s the fastest growing sport out there and it’s the kind of sport where people would rather play it than watch. They seek the skills involved in becoming a fighter whether it be amateur or pro. This of course has opened up many doors for people who want to make money as MMA entrepreneurs.

Students don’t mind the cost involved in being apart of the sport. The money spent on UFC alone last year was around $250 millions dollars and it’s only going up.

The demographic for the sport is mostly young males but there has been an increase in female participants due to the success of Ronda Rousey. Students involved in the sport typically at least work part time if not full time and if the membership fees are reasonable then an MMA gym can easily be a sustainable business venture.

Opening Up Your Gym

You can start opening up your gym by offering classes at your local YMCA or even another gym that doesn’t offer MMA. It will give you the opportunity to build your client base without a large overhead cost. It will also allow you to get a feel for a teaching style as well as the size of classes.

Choosing Your Location

Now that you have had a taste of how to run your classes you want to begin looking for your own space. You have a solid client base and you feel you can cover extra expenses at this point. So what makes for a great space for your MMA gym?

Visibility:

You want your gym to be visible from the street so people can see it as they drive by. It’s all about branding and continuing to attract new students. Plus you don’t want your gym to be hard to find.

Cheap Rent:

You want to make sure to get a location with as reasonable rent as you can get. Be careful not to overpay or you can find yourself in long term troubles. It may be best to start off at a smaller location and just run more classes to offset the cost.

Equipment For Your Gym:

Start off with a policy that students should bring most of their own gear and then start collecting your own gear for students. You will need to determine how much you need based off of how many students you have.

Equipment that you will need to purchase for your gym include:

* Sparring pads

* Heavy bags

* Grappling dummies

Advertising Your Gym:

Advertising your gym should be something you do regularly. Even the students you have will come and go and you need to make sure you can replace and add new. Help the students you have achieve their goals so they have no reason to leave. You can also offer referral incentives to get your students to bring in their friends.